Book 1:

Writing in Maya Glyphs

Names, Places, & Simple Sentences
A Non-Technical Introduction to
MAYA GLYPHS

by Mark Pitts
in collaboration with Lynn Matson

The Aid and Education Project, Inc.

El Proyecto de Ayuda y Educacin

This book is dedicated to the Maya people living today in Mesoamerica.

We wish to thank those persons who helped us in the preparation of this book. Thanks to John
Harris and the Philadelphia Pre-Columbian Society at the University of Pennsylvania. Also, for
their comments and corrections, we thank Jorge Raymundo Velsquez, Martn Chacach Cutzal,
and Ajpub Pablo Garca Ixmat of the Instituto de Lingstica y Educacin at the Universidad
Rafael Landvar in Guatemala. We also thank Ana Urizar for her helpful suggestions.
The Aid and Education Project, Inc., 2008

Title Page Top: The Stingray Paddler (far left) and the Jaguar Paddler (far right) row the Maize God (center) and
mythological beasts.
Title Page Bottom: The Canoe sinks, symbolizing the sinking of the Milky Way as the night progresses.

Writing in Maya Glyphs

Names, Places, & Simple Sentences
A Non-Technical Introduction

Table of Contents
Part 1: Writing Names of People and Places

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION: THE ANCIENT MAYA AND THEIR WRITING

History

The Basics Of Ancient Maya Writing

Glyphs That Stand For Syllables

Glyphs That Stand for Whole Words

Writing Words With Glyphs

Blocks Of Glyphs
3

CHAPTER 2 HOW TO WRITE YOUR NAME IN MAYA GLYPHS

Step 1: Divide Your Name Into Maya Syllables

Step 2: Find Your Syllables In the Syllabary Chart

Step 3: Place the Glyphs In a Glyph Block

Some Examples

CHAPTER 3 MAYA TITLES, PROFESSIONS, AND FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Personal Titles

Traditional and Modern Maya Professions

Family Relationships

CHAPTER 4 NAMES OF TOWNS IN MAYA GLYPHS

Combining Names and Titles

Using Logos to Write Names of Towns

Vocabulary

Glyphs Of the Great Maya Cities

CHAPTER 5 PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER TO WRITE SIMPLE SENTENCES

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CREDITS FOR IMAGES

Chapter 1
Introduction:
Introduction:
The Ancient Maya & Their
Their Writing

Lady Xook has a vision of an ancestor, October, 681

History
You are about to begin to study one of the worlds most
beautiful forms of writing, the hieroglyph writing of the ancient
Maya. At the same time you will learn about one of the worlds
most remarkable civilizations.
In the history of the world, there have been few people like
the ancient Maya. The Maya were great architects,
mathematicians, astronomers, and artists. In their time, they built
cities as grand and beautiful as any in Europe or the Far East.
They were one of only a few people who invented the zero, a
concept extremely important in mathematics. According to some
calculations, their measurement of the length of the year was
more accurate than that of the Europeans when they arrived in
the New World. And their artists created a style that is considered
one of the great art forms of history, and is today studied by
artists throughout the world.
Whats more, they were one of only three civilizations that
invented a complete system of writing. In this booklet, you will
learn about ancient Maya writing and about the ancient Maya
civilization.
For many years the ancient Maya were a mystery to the
world. Their writing could not be read by anyone, not even
modern Maya people. Now, in just the last 25 years, the Maya
6

Code has been largely broken and it is possible to understand

much of what was written on monuments, stelae, tablets, vases,
and other objects made by the ancient Maya.
Modern Mayan languages, spoken today in Mxico and
Guatemala, share roots with the language of the ancient Maya.
And Chorti, the modern Maya language of eastern Guatemala, is
the direct descendant of the language of the ancient Maya. In
fact, much of what is now known about the ancient Maya
language has been gleaned from modern Maya languages,
especially Yucatec, spoken in the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico,
and Chorti (written more correctly as Chorti).
Maya glyphs and the ancient Maya language were used in
all the cities of the ancient Maya world, including the famous cities
of Palenque, Uxmal, Chichen Itza, Quiriqu, Copn and Tikal.
While these great cities flourished, Europe languished in the Dark
Ages.

The Pyramid of the Magician at Uxmal, Mxico.

Below, the Palace at Palenque, Mexico.

The Main Plaza at Tikal, Guatemala.

The Beautiful Ball Court at Copn, Honduras

A giant stela at Quirigu in Guatemala

10

Above, the Observatory at Chichen Itza in Mexico

The Castle at Chichen Itza

11

THE BASICS OF ANCIENT MAYA WRITING

Maya writing is composed of various signs and symbols.
These signs and symbols are often called hieroglyphs, or more
simply glyphs. To most of us, these glyphs look like pictures, but
it is often hard to say what they are pictures of, as for example,
the following:

Glyphs from a stela at Piedras Negras in Mxico

12

Unlike European languages, like English and Spanish, the

ancient Maya writing did not use letters to spell words. Instead,
they used a combination of glyphs that stood either for syllables,
or for whole words.
We will call the glyphs that stood for syllables syllable
glyphs, and well call the glyphs that stood for whole words
logos. (The technically correct terms are syllabogram and
logogram.)
It may seem complicated to use a combination of sounds
and signs to make words, but we do the very same thing all the
time. For example, you have seen this sign:

Everyone knows that this sign means one way to the

right. The one way part is spelled out in letters, as usual. But
the to the right part is given only by the arrow pointing to the
right. Thus, this street sign is a combination of words and
pictures that is very much like the way the Maya wrote things.
After all, when a picture is worth a thousand words, why spell it
out?

13

GLYPHS THAT STAND FOR SYLLABLES

The sounds in the ancient Maya language were mostly the

same kind of sounds we have in English. They had the same
vowels a, e, i, o, and u. In most cases, these vowels are
pronounced as they are in Spanish today. Thus, a is
pronounced like the a in father; e is like a long a as in day; i is
like a long e as in keep; o is a long o as in dose; and u is
like a long u as in duke.
The Maya also had symbols for most consonants joined to a
vowel. So, they had the syllables cha, che, chi, cho, chu; la, le, li,
lo, lu; ma, me, mi, mo, mu; ta, te, ti, to, tu; and so forth. Following
the norm for Spanish, we will let the letter j be pronounced like an
h, and x is pronounced like sh.
The ancient Maya had glyphs only for those syllables that
ended in a vowel. When they needed a syllable that ended in a
consonant, they would put two glyphs together. For example, if
they wanted to make the sound like the English word note they
would use the syllables no + to and not pronounce the last o. An
easy way to write this is: no-t(o) where the parentheses show
that the last o is silent. Although the last vowel is silent, in Maya
writing the second vowel will usually be the same as the first
vowel. (This is called the rule of synharmony.) For example,
you would generally not write note as no-t(e) because the silent
vowel is not the same as the vowel that comes before it.
14

There is also sometimes disharmony between vowels,

meaning that the silent vowel is different from the previous vowel.
Disharmony was often usually used when the Maya wanted to
make a vowel much longer than normal, or different in some other
way from the normal vowel sound. Thus, for example, to write
noote (where the double oo indicates a very long vowel), they
could write no-t(i). Since the silent vowel is i rather than the
expected o, we know that they wanted the o to be long.
The ancient Maya had some sounds that are not used in
English or Spanish, but are common in modern Maya languages.
These sounds are called glottal stops, or simply stops. In
English, these are combinations of a consonant and a vowel that
are a little bit explosive when you say them together. For
example, when you say hot opal, the t and the o sounds said
together create a stop.
We signify stops with an apostrophe, for example to for the
t and o sound in hot opal. Thus, to is pronounced like toe, but
to is pronounced like the t o sound from hot opal. (In the
ancient Maya language the consonant b was only used with a
glottal stop, like the b in rob.)
Unlike most modern languages, the Maya usually had more
than one way to write a syllable. Thus, for example, while we
always write the sound ma as m+a, the Maya had many ways
to write the sound ma. So, two people named Maria might spell
their names very differently in Maya glyphs. As you will soon
15

learn, the Maya scribes were very creative and intelligent men
and women who loved to have fun with their language.
Okay, so how did the Maya write their syllable glyphs? Look
at the chart on the next page and you will see.
This chart is called a syllabary (kind of like an alphabet,
except that it contains syllables instead of just letters). If you want
to know the glyph for ma you only need to go to the square for
ma and see the glyphs that you can use for that sound. So, you
can write ma as

, as

, as

, or as

You get the idea. The same goes for many of the other syllables
as well.
Youve probably noticed that there are some squares where
there are no glyphs. This is because there are still parts of Maya
writing that is not known. The blank squares are syllables whose
glyphs no one knows. (If you keep studying Maya glyphs,
perhaps you will be the one who discovers these syllables.)
When we write a word using the syllables that make up that
word, we say that we are writing the word phonetically, which
simply means we are writing it with sounds.

The Hand of the Scribe, from Tikal, Guatemala

16

p
u
r
e
v
o
w
e
l
s

17

ch

ch

18

19

20

tz

21

tz

22

GLYPHS THAT STAND FOR WHOLE WORDS

As we said, Maya writing is a combination of glyphs that

stand for syllables, or syllable glyphs, and glyphs that stand for
whole words, or logos. There are 200 to 250 syllable glyphs that
were used in Classical Maya writing, and about 500 logos.
So that we dont confuse the glyphs for logos with the glyphs
for syllables, we will write the names of the glyphs for logos in all
capital letters.
For example, the color white can be represented by the logo
SAK

. The word for sky or heaven can be written with the

logo CHAN

. These are logos because they stand for whole

words, without building up the word from its syllables.

Sometimes a logo looks like the thing it stands for. For
example the glyph

means jaguar, and it actually looks like

a jaguar. When a logo actually looks like the thing it stands for,
we call it a pictogram.
Since the Maya liked to use a lot of variety and have fun
when they wrote things, they used a combination of logos and
syllable glyphs to create words. Thus, different scribes might
choose different combinations of glyphs to write the same word.
And since scribes were usually also artists, they would use their
23

creativity and carve or draw the same glyph differently. Thus,

while some aspects of Maya writing follow precise rules, other
parts vary depending upon the scribe. As you learn to write in
Maya glyphs, you should stick to the rules, but like the ancient
Maya scribes, be creative as well.

WRITING WORDS WITH GLYPHS

Now suppose we want to write the word for jaguar in Maya

script. The ancient Maya word for jaguar was balam (or more
precisely, bahlam). (Remember that the b simply indicates a
glottal stop after the letter b.) The following 5 groups of glyphs
are all perfectly correct ways to write the word balam, or jaguar.

BALAM

ba
ma

la

24

ba BALAM

BALAM
ma

ba BALAM
ma

The glyph on top is basically just a picture of a jaguar. This is the

pictogram (and the logo) for BALAM.
Next, the word balam is written using the sounds that make
up the word. That is, the word is written phonetically.
Remember, to write a word phonetically we break up the word
into syllables. So balam is rewritten as ba-la-m(a). The
parentheses around the last a shows that it is silent. So, if you
go to the syllabary and find the squares for ba and la and ma,
then place them all together, you will get the glyph for balam
shown on the second row of the illustration. As we explain later,
when glyphs are placed together to form one group, they will be
read more or less from left to right and from top to bottom.
The three bottom glyphs in the illustration are combinations
of the pictogram BALAM, and the sounds that make up the word.
The pictogram is included in these glyphs for balam, but also the
glyphs for one or more of the syllables are included. When a
word is written in this way, it is normal to include the first and/or
last syllables, but not the middle syllables of the word. You can
think of these extra syllables as helper syllables for the logo or
25

for the pictogram. (Technically, these are known as phonetic

complements.)
Another example is the glyph for heaven or sky, which we
saw earlier. We can write heaven/sky as
common form is

. But, a more

. This glyph block contains the logo for

heaven/sky, plus the helper syllable na underneath. This helper

makes it easier for us to recognize and pronounce the glyph. The
second form is a logo plus a syllable glyph, CHAN-n(a), with the
final a being silent.
Other than being creative, it is not clear why the Maya would
include the syllables for a word when the pictogram for the word is
given. But, for clarity, we do the same thing. For example, we all
know that a big red octagon means STOP. Yet, usually within
that big red octagon there is also the word STOP written out.
We use shortcuts for words much like the Maya did as well.
For example, we use the first and last letter of many words as a
way to abbreviate the words, (Dr. for doctor, or hr. for hour). Also,
we use the first letters of a string of words to stand for the whole
group of words (for example, NYC for New York City, JFK for
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, or DA for District Attorney). Also, we
frequently use abbreviations that pick up the most prominent
sounds in a word (for example, X-LRG for Extra-Large, pls for
please). The Maya used syllables instead of letters like we do,
but the idea is really the same.
26

A Full Body Glyph for BALAM

BLOCKS OF GLYPHS
The glyphs for balam show that an ancient Maya word was
often a combination, or block, of several other glyphs. (The
technically correct term is a collocation of glyphs.) Usually there
is the main sign or glyph, together with other glyphs that serve as
prefixes, suffixes, superscripts, and subscripts. We have all these
in our language too. For example, think about the simple word
do. If we say undo, do is the main word (like the main sign), and
un is the prefix. If we say doable, do is the main word and able is
the suffix. We can also say undoable, which has both a prefix
and suffix to the main word do.
Also like ancient Maya, we use subscripts and superscripts,
but usually more in mathematics and science than in everyday
speech. For example, 32 (3 squared) has the main number 3
and the superscript 2. The sign for water H2O uses the subscript
2.

27

We can do the same thing with signs and pictures instead of

words and numbers. For example look at the following picture.
Here we have the main sign (a logo, and a pictogram) of a
smoking cigarette:

And below we have the secondary sign (a logo) for No or Do

Not:

When we put them together, we get No Smoking:

Of course we use signs instead of words in many other ways

as well. We all know what is meant by a thumbs up, a wink, a
shrug of the shoulders, or a tapping of the foot. No words are
needed. The sign works just fine, if not better.
28

Even in everyday writing we use symbols that stand for

whole words. Everyone knows that $, #, %, and stand for the
words dollar, number, percent and divided by. In fact, all of our
numerals are logos. For example 4, 7, and 21 are logos for the
words four, seven, and twenty-one.
On the computer we also use many signs (or icons, which
are just pictograms) instead of words. To save to disk, we click
the picture of the disk; to print we click the picture of the printer; to
open a file we click the picture of the open file folder.
Similarly, companies have their logos, countries have their
flags, and religions have their signs (the cross, the star of David,
the crescent, etc.). Thus it is easy to see that like the Maya, we
use signs all the time. The only difference is that we dont use
signs very much when we write.
Now all we need to know is how the Maya put together all
their signs, symbols, and glyphs to make something that could be
understood. Here is a picture of the parts in a simple glyph block.

29

As shown, the main sign in the middle will usually be the biggest
sign in the group. In ancient Mayan, like Spanish or English, only
a few of all the possible prefixes, suffixes, etc. will be used in a
single word.
To make sense of a word, we have to know the order of the
parts. For example, the word undoable makes sense, but
abledoun and dounable do not make any sense. The normal
order of the parts in ancient Maya glyph blocks was roughly from
left to right and from top to bottom.
The problem is that glyph blocks could get a lot more
complicated that the simple one shown above. Here is a guide to
reading more complicated glyph blocks in the right order.

Finally, sometimes the Maya would combine two glyphs into one
single glyph. This is called a conflation of glyphs. For example,
take the syllables mo and lo. The glyphs for these are

30

mo

lo

To write mo-lo the Maya would combine the two glyphs above to
get

mo-lo .
Now, believe it or not, you are ready to start writing words in Maya
glyphs. In the next chapter, we will show you how to write your
name in Maya glyphs, and then in the following chapter how to
write the name of your town.
Be creative, and have fun!

In Maya myths, scribes were often shown as monkeys. Like the monkey, the scribe always seems to have fun.

31

Chapter 2
How To Write Your Name
In Maya Glyphs

Lady Xook of Yaxchiln

32

In this chapter we will teach you how to write your name in

Maya glyphs. We will take you through the process, step by step.

Step 1. Divide your name into Maya syllables.

As explained above, written Maya syllables always end in

vowels, although at times the vowels were silent. So, to start, you
will divide your name into syllables that end in vowels. Thus, you
may have one or more extra syllables when you write your name
in Maya syllables. Remember too, when you need a syllable with
a silent vowel, the silent vowel should be the same as the vowel
that comes before it.
For example, if your name is Ana, you have it easy. You can
write Ana as a-na. Both syllables end in vowels, just as you
want.
If your name is Adam, it is a little harder. But, using the
silent vowel rule, Adam can be written as a-da-ma. Here the last
a is silent, so it is better to write it as a-da-m(a). Note that we
chose ma as the last syllable (rather than me, mi, mo, or mu)
because we want the silent vowel to be the same as the vowel in
the syllable that comes before it.

33

The silent vowel can also come somewhere in the middle of

the name. For example, if we write Antonio in Maya syllables, we
get a-n(a)-to-ni-o .

Step 2: Find your syllables in the Syllabary Chart

After youve divided your name into syllables, look in the

syllabary chart to find the Maya glyphs for each syllable. If you
find glyphs for all the syllables, that is great.
What if you know the syllables you need, but one or more of
the squares you need in the chart is empty? If the square you
need is empty, it means that the Maya glyph for that syllable is not
known. For example, suppose you need the syllable wu. In the
syllabaries, there is nothing in the squares for wu. In these cases
use consonant+a plus the vowel you need. So, for example, the
correct substitution for wu is wa+u.
Now, what if your name has a consonant that isnt even in
the syllabary? A common case is a name that contains an r.
Suppose your name is Maria, and so the syllables are
ma-ri-a. As you will see, there arent any r syllables in the
syllabary at all. This is because the ancient Maya did not have
words that had r sounds.
34

So, we have to make a substitution that sounds similar. For

Maria, we would write ma-li-a. This may seem unfair, but it is
okay. All we are doing is changing the name a little bit to reflect
how the ancient Maya would probably pronounce your name.
(We do this all the time ourselves for names of people and places
in other countries. For example, in Italy they say Roma, but in the
United States we say Rome.)

Table of 96 Glyphs, Palenque Mexico

35

Here are some other substitutions that you may need:

CONSONANT SUBSTITUTIONS:
C

(soft as in Cindy) - Use S+vowel (i.e. sa, se, si, so, or su)

(hard as in Cathy) - Use K+vowel

Use T+vowel

Use P+vowel

(soft as in George) - Use Ch+vowel or T+vowel

(hard as in Gary) - Use K+vowel

Use Ch+vowel or T+vowel

Ph

Use P+vowel

Use Ku+W+vowel [ Ex. qua=ku+wa and qui=ku+wi ]

Use L+vowel

Sh

Use X+vowel [ X is pronounced as sh]

St

Use Tz+vowel [Ex. Kristy = ka-li-tzi ]

Th

Use T+vowel or X+vowel

Use W+vowel

Use Tz+vowel

Now, before picking out the glyphs for each syllable in your
name (or its substitution), there is one more thing you must do:
pick a main syllable. If your name has 2 syllables, use the
syllable that is accented when you pronounce your name. If your
name has 3 or 5 syllables, the main syllable should usually be the
36

middle syllable. But if your name has 4, or 6 syllables, you should

choose one of the syllables near the middle of your name to be
the main syllable. Ideally, this syllable should be a syllable that is
emphasized in the pronunciation of your name, and it should be a
syllable that has a nice square-shaped glyph in the syllabary
chart. (For example, for Antonio, you would use to as the
principal syllable.)

Step 3: Place the Glyphs in a Glyph Block

So now we want to make a glyph block of the syllables in
your name. Remember the skeletons from the last chapter that
shows how individual glyphs are placed together to make a glyph
block, or in our case, to make a whole name.
[Prefix and Superfix for syllables that come before the main syllable]

[Postfix and Subfix for syllables

that come after main syllable]

[First syllable in name usually

goes in Prefix space]

37

The main sign is where you will put the main syllable in your
name. If possible, the main syllable glyph should be one of the
bigger square shaped glyphs. The syllables that come before the
main syllable will be in the prefix and superscript positions, and
the very first syllable usually goes in the space for the prefix. The
syllables that come after the main syllable will go in the positions
for the suffix and the subscript. You should try to use smaller
glyphs for all the syllables, except for the main syllable.
If, for example, your name has five syllables, the first syllable
goes in the prefix position and the second syllable goes in the
superscript position. The middle syllable will usually be the main
syllable, and so go in the position for the main glyph. Then the
next-to-last syllable will go in the suffix position, and the last
syllable will go in the subscript position.
Wherever possible, all the syllable glyphs should be
bunched around the main glyph, and in fact they should touch it.
You should rotate each glyph to make it fit closely with the main
glyph. You can also stretch out one or more glyphs as needed to
make one nice group. In the end, you want something that looks
like a square with rounded corners, sort of like a square shaped
pebble.
You might notice that some of the glyphs have an open part
on one side. Think of this part as the suction cup for the glyph.
This is the part of the glyph that you want to use to hook up or
stick the glyph onto the main sign.
38

Of course, you may not need to use all the positions. Thats
okay. Just use what you need.
If your name has more than 5 syllables, or if you just want to
experiment with different placements, use the placements in the
following chart:

Be creative. Experiment. Make your glyph personal and

something you really like. And remember, you should follow the
rules, but otherwise it is good to play around and have fun.
Once youve made the glyph for your first name, think about
how you want to make glyphs for your other names. The process
is exactly the same. Go back to Step 1 and follow the same steps
to spell any name you like in Maya glyphs.

39

SOME EXAMPLES

Lets start with an easy example and suppose again that

your name is Ana. We can easily write Ana in Maya syllables as
a-na. Looking at the syllabary we see that we have a nice
selection of ways to write these two syllables. These are

na

If Ana is your name, you can choose which glyphs to use for the
syllables of your name. If you like animals, you might choose one
of the animal heads on the left. Then, you could write your name
as:

na

Now lets take a name that is just a little harder --- Alan. In
Maya syllables, Alan is written as a-la-n(a) , where the
parentheses indicates that the last a is silent. The glyphs for
each syllable are as follows:
40

la

na

If your name is Alan, you get to decide how to write your

name, but heres one nice way:

la
n(a)

Now lets try something a little harder. Suppose your name

is Thomas. To write this name in Maya glyphs, we first write
break the name into the syllables ta-ma-s(a), which sounds like
the name Thomas, remembering that the a in parenthesis is
silent. Here we have a name that we pronounce in 2 syllables,
but has 3 Maya syllables.

41

Next, we go to the syllabary, where we see that we have

quite a selection of glyphs to choose from for each syllable. From
the syllabary, the possibilities are

ta

ma

sa

Now we choose the syllables we like and place them in the

right order in a glyph block to spell the name. Here are two
beautiful possibilities:

ta
ma s(a)

ta
ma

s(a)

Make sure that you can see the three syllables ta-ma-s(a)
in each of these two spellings of Thomas.
42

As you can see by now, there are always many ways to write
a name in Maya glyphs, so in the end the way you spell your
name can be very unique to you.
As a final example lets write the name Maria in Maya
glyphs. Maria can be broken down into the syllables ma-ri-a. But,
as we explained earlier, there was no r sound in the ancient
Maya language, so we have to make a substitution and rewrite
Maria as ma-li-a. Looking at the syllabary, we have the following:

ma

li

Heres one way to put the syllables together to form the name
Maria:

Note that in order to write Maria, we stretched the li syllable

glyph to make it taller, and we rotated the final a syllable glyph
180 degrees. But if your name is Maria, you may choose to do it
differently. After all, its your name.
43

Now suppose you want to use Maya glyphs to write My

name is Ana. How would we do that? We know how to write the
name, so now all we need to know is how to write my name is.
Unlike us, when a Maya king or queen had something
written about themselves, they would refer to themselves as he
or she instead of I. And, to name someone, the Maya used a
glyph that literally meant it is his/her picture, because whenever
they named themselves, they also had a portrait. This glyph is

the logogram BAAH

, which is used together with a

glyph that means his, her, he, or she, depending on the

context. This glyph is simply u. As you will see in the syllabary,
one form for u is

Thus, to say his/her name is or he/she is known as, you

can write

, shown here with the phonetic compliment hi

on top. So, if you want to write My name is Ana you would

write

Her name is

Ana.

44

Remember, of course, that when you say she or he you are

referring to yourself, just as the ancient Mayas would do.

It is also possible, although much less common in ancient

Maya writing, to refer directly to oneself with the words me and
my. The glyph for me and my is the syllable ni,

Combining this with the verb for to be know as we can write I

am known as Alan with these glyphs

I am known as

Alan.

(My name is)

A Serpent Bar, a Mayan symbol of kingship.

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